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UNTTED STATES PATENT Osman,

WILLIAM NORRIS, OF FORT ANN, NEW YORK.

COMPOSITION FOR PAINTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 257,510, dated May 9,1-882.

Application filed January 29, 1881. (Specimens) T 0 all whom it mayconcern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM R. NoRRIs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Fort Ann, in the State of New York, have invented certainnew and useful Improvementsin Gompositions for Paints; and I do herebydeclare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of theinvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same.

This invention has for its object the pro duction of a more perfectpaint than has hitherto been obtained of the class or kind in whichcomminuted slate or some similar mineral substance is intermixed withlinseed or other suitable oil to form the body of the paint. This Ieffect by substituting for the ordinary slate or other mineral substancehitherto thus employed the mineral known as the Hudson River shale orslate, the same being comminuted or pulverized, and then mixed withordinary linseed-oil or other suitable oil, or milk, turpentine, size,or any of the ordinary substitutes. The said Hudson River shale or slateis a well-known mineral substance, found chiefly in the neighborhood ofthe river whence it derivesits name, and possessingcertain qualitieswhich peculiarly fit it for use in paints. The chief objection toordinary slate for such uses is that its particles will not remainproperly in suspension in the oil, but will tend to sink through thesame, making an uneven mixture and therefore bad paint. This slate alsofails to unite or combine with the oil. The slate and oil will not holdtogether, and the slate particles will rub off after putting on a coatof the paint. It is indeed suitable to use only with white lead and asan adulteration of the latter. Now, the Hudson River shale or slate hasa sufficient proportion of oily and bituminous matter to coalescereadily with the oil. It will therefore remain perfectly and evenlysuspended for a long time, forming a permanent or approximatelypermanent mixture, which will be of uniform consistence and efficiencyin every part. Ooal-shales and similar substances have often been usedfor the same purpose in pulverized form but in them the proportion ofbitumen is too large (as I have demonstrated by practical experiment)for the production of a really desirable or sat isfactory paint. Themixture is too thick and viscous, as well as'too strong of bitumen. Itis not easily laid on, will not dry readily, and lacks most of thequalities of an excellent paint. The Hudson River shale or slate, socalled, obviates these objections, as well as the opposite fault of adefective supply of hitumen, and gives rise to no trouble either inlaying on, drying, or otherwise. It possesses enough oil and bitumen forits particles to mix readily with the linseed-oil, but not enough tomake the mixture unduly thick or viscous. Silex has also been used; butit lacks the cohesive qualities of the Hudson River slate. The HudsonRiver shale or slate, though so called, is really quite a differentsubstance from slate or shale as these terms are ordinaril y understood.By careful scientific analysis it has been found to contain, compressedin a solid form, the following ingredients in their several proportions:silica, fifty-two and two-tenths per cent. alumina, twenty-seven andthirty-three oue-hundredths per cent; lime, four and eighty-nineone-hundredths per cent; carbonic acid, seven and forty-fourone-hundredths per cent; and water the remainder, or eight and fourteenone-hundredths per cent. Such a combination of substances has neverbefore been used in compositions for paints. This shale has evidentlybeen compressed into its present solidified form and consistency bygreat natural pressure. When thrown into fire a lump of it will explodeviolently, leaving a white ash. Nitric acid will act upon it. It doesnot flake like slate and is not similarly brittle. It can partly bedistilled, and will yield in most mixtures an oily scum. It has asuperficial oily gloss while in solid form, and seems to contain somespecial coloring-matter. It adds to paint a peculiar gloss, very muchsuperior to that which can be obtained from white lead, and takes theplace of lead with advantage in all cases where a dark color isemployed. It is free from the poisonous properties of lead, and forms arock surface, as cement does, having most of the ingredients of Portlandcement, and hardening in the same manner.

This paint has not only the properties of a quired color.

paint, but it acts as a wood-filler. It will not flake off coat fromcoat, as many paints will, but will make a solid stone-like mass fromtop to bottom of the paintlaid on any surface, the lower layer orprimary filling into the pores of the wood. Its special availability informing part of a composition for paints may be explained in some degreeby the ingredients and characteristics above stated 5 but the factitself, to whatever cause due, is a matter of observation andexperiment. Of this fact I was the first discoverer, and in consequenceof said dis- 'covery I have invented the composition for which I nowdesire a patent.

In carrying out my invention I merely pulverize a portion of the saidHudson River shale and miX the same well with linseed-oil or itssubstitutes, using any suitable known means for such pulverizing andmixing. The proportion of said ingredients is preferably about thirteenpounds of said mineral to a gallon of said oil, but may be variedconsiderably. Pigments are then added to give the re- Of course myinvention includes the material, however or wherever obtained,

though I have designated it, in the usual manner, by the locality whereit is chiefly found, that being the geological and technical term forsaid mineral. The said invention also includes the said composition,whether applied in the primary paint, the rough stuff, or in any othervariety of paint known in the art, these differing from one anotherchiefly in consistency and in the relative quantity of their in- WILLIAMIt. NORRIS.

Witnesses:

WM. H. BABGOCK, EDWARD G. SIGGERS.

